One of the issues that many small businesses have is that they don’t know how to tap the resources available to them. This is because there are so many programs, that it can be time consuming to wade through them all. And, unlike big companies, small business and home business owners can’t afford the consultants that could help them navigate government programs.

To that end, the Department of Commerce plans to provide free consultants to small business owners. The Street reports on this development:

U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says the agency plans to create “one-stop shop” business advocacy centers across the nation to help small firms get the best government help that they can. The centers will operate as central contact points for every Commerce program available to business owners.

This could be extremely helpful to home business and small business owners who want a little more access to programs. And it can even help them figure out what is actually available so that they can better take advantage of it.